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I stared at him, skin tingling as the memory of the last time he’d been in the basement rushed through me. Best sex ever—no doubt. And he wants me to be his …? He wants me? I tried to remain rational. He wanted me, but as what? Wife? Girlfriend? What the hell kind of relationship did one have with a demonic lord? And was that something I wanted?
I took another couple of seconds to work some moisture back into my mouth. “Yours? Like, how? Marriage? Adoption? Lease with option to buy?”
His smile widened. “I wish you to be my summoner.”
Well, that was a bucket of ice water. Not wife. Not girlfriend. You moron. “Your … summoner.”
“Yes.”
I pushed down the absurd sting that he didn’t want me as some sort of consort. Yes, it was completely irrational. I knew that. I should be pleased that he was more attracted to my arcane abilities. But I’d never claimed to be free of insecurities. “And what would being your summoner entail?” I asked, wary. I was grateful for the rude wake-up. I’d almost forgotten what he was.
He sat down in the armchair, slouching just enough to make it sexy instead of sloppy. “You would summon me periodically, thus granting me greater access to this sphere while still under the restraints of the summoning protocols.” He slid a look to me. “Do not fear, dear one. I would not be unrestrained. My time would be limited, as any demon’s is.”
I slowly walked over to the fireplace, hitching myself up to sit on the table, oddly pleased that it had the added effect of allowing me to look down at him. Not that it made me feel superior in any way at all. He still radiated stunning power and potency. And why did he have to be so damn hot? I bit back a groan as my body eagerly reminded me that it had once enjoyed his hotness quite a bit. “So what’s in it for me?”
His eyes sparkled with uninhibited delight. “Your brief time in the demon realm has done wonders for you. For starters, you would have access to me.” He waved a hand in a grand gesture that encompassed his entire person.
I lifted my chin defiantly. “Well, what if I don’t want to sleep with you again?”
He tipped his head back and laughed, as close to a full belly laugh as I thought I would ever hear come out of a demon. I scowled at him, and then, in a movement that was damn near too fast for me to follow, he was standing in front of me, holding my face in his hands. “That is not what I was referring to, dear one, but obviously it has been on your mind a great deal if that is the first thing that occurred to you.”
I flushed at the truth of his words, heat rising in my face, then abruptly his mouth was on mine and a different heat began to rise. I didn’t resist as his tongue sought mine and his hands slid around to my back. A small moan escaped me as his body molded against mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist without even thinking about it, and he pressed against me, showing me that he was more than willing to pursue that line of thinking. Damn, but I’d missed this. Missed feeling sexy … desirable. But he’s only doing this to sway my decision …
His hand slipped beneath the silk of my shirt, skimming over my breast. Gooseflesh rippled over my body, and I could feel my nipple harden beneath his palm. My legs tightened around him, and he obligingly ground against me, forcing a gasp from me. I tugged at his shirt without thinking, wanting to feel the exquisite perfection of his skin. It was as incredible as I’d remembered—satin over rippled iron. But it’s just sex. Really great sex, yeah, but … I could get sex anywhere, right?
Like maybe with Ryan?
I shuddered and broke the kiss with a small gasp, pulling back from him. I couldn’t do this, couldn’t make the kind of decision he wanted when I was overwhelmed and confused. He straightened, the smile still playing on his face.
“Not as delightful as you remembered?”
I let out a shaking breath and scooted back a few inches on the table—far enough that the evidence of his arousal wasn’t pressed right up against the evidence of my arousal. “It was … delightful, Lord Rhyzkahl, I cannot deny that. But I need to be able to think clearly.” I took a deep breath. “What do you mean, ‘access to you’?”
“My knowledge, my power, my skills.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Do you deny that you desire greater knowledge of the arcane?”
Shit. I couldn’t deny that, not when I had a list of things that I needed to know more about upstairs on my kitchen table. “Okay, there is a lot I need to learn. But I’m not sure I’m ready to … er, commit to you like that.”
“Ah, so I must woo you.” His eyes glinted. “I have never had need to do so.” He leaned close to me, sliding fingers across my cheek. “I must remember how it is done.”
I snorted and lightly batted his fingers away. “Not like that.”
I felt a brief shimmer of potency, then he withdrew his hand and straightened, dark power smoldering in his eyes. “Yes,” he said softly. “Your brief sojourn in the demon realm did you well.”
Another sliver of fear began to spread through me, but before I could berate myself too harshly—I batted his hand away? Holy crap, what was I thinking? — he turned away, clasping his hands lightly behind his back. “Very well. I will woo you. I will answer three questions without debt.”
I blinked. “Are you serious? Three questions with no debt of honor incurred?” Then I cringed. Nice going, moron. That was two questions right there.
“Three questions. No debt. A courting gift, if you will.”
I hopped off the table, relieved that he wasn’t going to be a stickler about when the questioning would start. But if he was trying to “woo” me, then being a jerk about the questions certainly wouldn’t endear him to me. “I’ll be right back,” I said, as I took off up the basement stairs, then raced down the hall to the kitchen, bare feet slapping against the wood floor. I grabbed the paper off the table and spun to race back to the basement.
And careened right into him. I would have fallen back on my ass, but he seized me by the arms, steadying me, then continued to grip my arms. His body was firm and warm against mine, and I nearly expected him to lower his head to kiss me. I even tipped my head back without thinking, then felt slightly foolish when I realized that he wasn’t looking down at me at all.
Instead, his gaze slowly traveled around my small kitchen, and it abruptly occurred to me that he was looking around like someone who had never seen anything like a modern kitchen before. And most likely he hasn’t. Demonic lords were rarely if ever summoned. It was the others—the twelve levels of demon, reyza, syraza, zhurn, mehnta, and so forth—who were usually summoned and who had the opportunity to come to this sphere. But even they had little chance to “see the world,” so to speak. I knew that when I summoned, it was a stark rarity for any demon to leave the summoning chamber. Far too much risk of discovery by the outside world. Tessa occasionally brought demons down from her attic summoning chamber, but just to her library. I’d brought the ilius out only because it was practically invisible. And, of course, the lords were almost never summoned by anyone who wanted to continue living. No wonder Kehlirik had been so elated at the opportunity to ride in the back of a U-Haul truck.
“Have you been to this sphere before?” I asked, almost hesitantly. “I mean, other than the time I called you. And, um, the time that the Symbol Man called you. I mean, have you ever been outside a summoning chamber?”
He continued to take in his surroundings. “Centuries ago. It was quite different, as I recall.”
